"For U.S. Wildlife, a Climate Change Blueprint"

"New efforts to measure what warming temperatures are doing to forests, streams and animals at a regional level are at the core of a strategic plan by the Fish and Wildlife Service to respond to the effects of climate change.

The service said Monday that it had created a scientific team charged with identifying animals that are particularly vulnerable to climate change — not only obviously susceptible cold-weather species like polar bears and walruses, but also animals less visibly at risk like the wolverine, for example.

The service said it would also be working with eight new climate stations run by the United States Geological Survey that will take detailed measurements of how local ecologies are changing as global temperatures rise. The new centers, three of which are already active, will measure things like changes in snow pack, soil moisture and stream temperatures — seemingly small details that can mean life and death to some creatures."

Leslie Kaufman reports for the New York Times' Green blog September 27, 2010.


SEE ALSO:

"Fish and Wildlife Service Unveils New Climate Change Plan" (KTUU NBC 2 Alaska)